Burma Marks New Year with Pay Raise

2 January 2010: A new salary increase for government employees will take effect on January 31, 2010, the Burmese Treasury Department has confirmed.

According to the new measure announced on Friday, all government employees will see a 20,000 Kyat being topped up on their existing monthly salaries by the end of January 2010.

“This will mean that if a government employee is now making 100,000 Kyats on his monthly salary, that will be increased to 120,000 Kyats, according to the new measure,” explains a source contacted by Chinland Guardian.

Details are immediately unavailable about the reasons for the increase, but observers see it as the junta’s early attempt at shoring up public support ahead of the planned elections this year rather than any economic motive.

The pay hike is the first of such measure since 2006 when the junta raised the salaries of its civil servants up to 1200 percent. The drastic salary hike was quickly followed by soaring inflation.

Chinland Guardian